Rites of Passage
by LordSlogra
Summary: All is peaceful in the Citadel of Elements. That is until an Esper escapes onto the Plane below and, with the help of 3 others, begins wreaking havoc onto the human world. Chaos and his friends must over come trials, life in our world and even go up against their own kind in a desperate battle to save Zodiark from the forces in him. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 0: The Prologue

**If you haven't played FFXII (then why are you reading this fic anyway) here are the Espers and their elements for you. Chaos (Wind), Hashmal (Earth), Belias (Fire), Mateus (Ice), Adrammelech (Thunder), Ultima (Light), Famfrit (Water), Zodiark (Darkness), Cuchulainn (Poison), Zalera (Death) and Zeromus (Gravity).**

* * *

Chaos trundled, well flew, or whatever you do in that vehicle of his, down the hall to meet his 'son'. Espers reproduce asexually you see, so all of their powers are carried over to the next generation, each of which typically lasts around 1500 years. Young Chaos was only 8 at this time but Old Chaos had some news for him.

As usual, he was found playing inside with Young Hashmal, they were in the middle of trying to figure out what LEGO does when they were interrupted.

"There you are!" announced Old Chaos rather gruffly. Young Chaos sighed and got to his feet

"What is it now Dad?" he asked, the response being a letter thrown at his feet. He read the address, To Chaos, Esper of Wind and holder of the virtue, Wisdom. _That's me, he thought. But why did they put my full title? _ Pushing all doubts aside to some remote corner of his brain, Young Chaos tore open the envelope and looked at the note inside.

_To all Espers of the next generation,_

Reading that line he sat down again and let Hashmal read the note as well

_There has been a greatly disturbing matter brought to our attention, Young Master Zodiark has fled the safety of the citadel and down onto the Mortal Plane! He appears to have had help from Young Cuchulainn and Zalera as they are missing too. In light of this we call you to a meeting but any Espers who fail to attend shall be sought out and brought there with extreme prejudice with the reason that they may be somehow connected to this incident._

_Exodus, the Judge-Sal_

They both had to read the note a few more times to get the full grasp of it and even then, they were totally dumbfounded by it all. Zodiark! Escape! Never! Nonetheless, they had to attend, quickly tidying everything up they hastily made their way to the Judge-Sal's chambers.

* * *

Exodus was old, even for an Esper and his 1375 years showed. He had a long beard and needed a chair to hover around in. However, he was in charge of the entire Esper courts and did a very good job of it according to other deities who resided within the Citadel of Elements.

"Ahem! Ah, Chaos you have arrived" Exodus checked the time. "And early as well. Good job too as I wanted to ask you something, since you have the virtue of Wisdom I think it would be wise, pardon the pun, to appoint you as the leader of this operation."

"Well.." started Chaos

Exodus laughed heartily "I knew you'd be up to it!"

"Congratulations," Hashmal said before adding "Leader." Chaos smiled and sat down next to Hashmal as the other 5 Espers were escorted in. First Belias, who sat down next to Hashmal, then Mateus, who took his place at the end of the row, after that Adrammelech (although most called him Adam) who sat next to Belias, next Ultima, who sat between Mateus and Chaos then finally Famfrit who sat at the other end of the row next to Adrammelech.

Exodus coughed a bit before speaking "Good, you're all here, so now I shall explain why I have sent you here. You have been chosen, because you all knew Zodiark at one time or another, to find him on the Mortal Plane."

This was greeted by startled eyes from the audience.

"Calm down, I know the rumours about the humans down there but I have links with a few who know our existence to be more than myth and they have set up accommodation and education for all of you. Now this mission would most probably fail without a leader, and that is why I have chosen Chaos here,"

Exodus waved a finger vaguely in the intended direction and ended up pointing at Ultima instead.

"To be the leader. I have prepared Shemhazais for all of you, now quickly you must go while the barrier between the Planes is at its weakest. Time is of the essence!"

And with that, the doors swung open and 7 strange creatures trotted in, these were Shemhazais, the mounts of the Espers. They looked like horses with masked heads, horns and a mush faster gallop. After some last minute riding lessons the group were off, punching through the barrier and down onto the Plane below...

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**Hope you liked it, remember to review if there is something you want to point out to me. If I agree I will rectify it as soon as I read your review.**


	2. Chapter 1: The First Day

**Second, well first, chapter up. A few more intricate relations between characters explored. It should go well.**

* * *

Landing down rather gracefully, the Shemhazais dropped off their cargo before putting on their horse disguises and trotting off to their designated stables. The block of flats seems very intimidating from the outside. Rabanastre had been built up in the last few centuries making it much more modern.

"I guess this is where we'll be staying for the next few years then." said Famfrit ever cheerful and wanting to break the silence.

"Speak for yourself," Mateus retorted and walked off into the hotel while turning into his human form called Mat. Chaos followed suit and turned into an average 8-year-old with rather pale skin and jet black hair then walked in too followed by Ultima in the guise of an attractive girl, Mia. Adrammelech into Adam, the excitable younger brother we all hate, since he was 2 years younger than everybody else. Famfrit was already in hers, long blonde hair tied back behind her and glasses suiting her surprisingly well. Then, Hashmal, who had slightly darker skin, into Hash. Finally, Belias, the appointed bodyguard, turned into a suit wearing agent with the obligatory shades.

**5 years later,**

Chaos was the first to get up.

"Another day, still no news!" He sighed and plonked himself on the sofa. This woke Mia up who noticed him sitting down, smiled and said softly so no one would be woken up.

"Adam is coming up into our school today." This was the first day of a new school year, or whatever the Mortals called it.

"Speaking of which, where is he? He usually gets up before any of us."

"He's probably really nervous," said Mia obviously concerned about something Adam had told her.

"What's he got to be nervous about?" Chaos asked

"I hear he was getting bullied" Hash added, just getting out of bed.

"Well we'll soon put a stop to that!" He said this a bit too loudly, which woke all the others up.

After narrowly avoiding a potentially lethal encounter with bullies on the way to school, Adam was rightly worried after the first two periods so he tended to stay near Mat, the most protective, if in unorthodox ways, of the bunch. Chaos wandered near Hash. Mia and Famfrit stuck together while Belias stayed back guarding the door and protecting Zero (or Zeromus) their pet.

After a long day at school they were all walking back, discussing what to do when they did get back, but something was off, they all sensed it. There was someone following them, but they couldn't make out where. So they decided to keep their discussions down. Even at the flats he, or she, was still there, instead of 6 pairs of footsteps, there were 7. They formulated a plan on the way back using the mild telepathy all Espers had. Unfortunately it is limited to Espers so they couldn't read the mind of the person or animal that was following them. But they did have a tool that could.

* * *

"The Mind Radar!" Announced Chaos proudly. They told Belias to come inside to make their plan work. Hash volunteered to listen in on the stalker's thoughts.

"_Ok, now this is weird. Why did they have that big bodyguard outside?" _Then he spotted Mia and Famfrit.

"_They get the best girls too!__" _The stalker was clearly male, probably a boy. Mia blushed.

"_Wait, is that my voice, no...my _thoughts!" Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside and Mat was gone. Presumably after whoever it was whose voice they had heard.

"I'll go and find him," Mia said with a sigh, before turning to look at Chaos, smiling and going out the door.

There was an awkward silence before Famfrit spoke.

"She likes you y'know." Chaos stared back like she didn't know what she was talking about.

"Hey. I'm a girl too, I know these things."

Chaos finally managed to force words out of his mouth.

"Well, can you not just..blurt it out in front of everybody here!"

* * *

Mat snuck down the stairs using his powers, against orders, to blend in with the surroundings like a ghost. The human quickly took the steps, two at a time before a cold hand grabbed him from behind and turned him around.

"Just what do you think you're doing, following us home?!" he said icily. Before any answer was possible, he hauled the human back up the stairs, totally ignoring Mia, who sensed something and, quickly plucking the human from his grasp and ignoring a cry of "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Found what she was looking for.

Chaos, who was still mulling over what Famfrit had said, jumped when Mia re-entered along with the human and Mat, who slammed the door behind him. Obviously something had happened, no one asked what though. Mia's hand glowed white and, quite painfully at first, a crystal came out of the human's back.

"Ok, now that is not something that I want to happen to me" Hash said, disgusted. Mia presented the crystal to the group, Zero barking happily on the ground trying to jump on it.

"This," she announced, pointing at the crystal "Is a holo-crystal, a crystal with a message."

Exodus's head popped out of the crystal and started to speak.

"I have grave news. A human has just been poisoned by the local water supply. I suspect Zodiark or, more probably, Cuchulainn had something to do with this. So I am sending you down into the ruins of the Garamsythe Waterway to investigate. Exodus out."

Adam was the first to speak "Well? What are we waiting for? Come on people!" He rushed out the door with everyone following suit, running for the waterway...

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**Again, I hope you enjoyed it.**

**C: I know I did.**

**You're in the story Chaos, you HAVE to enjoy it!**

**C: Oh.**


	3. Chapter 2: The Waterway Ruins

**Sorry for the long hiatus, life ws being...life. But I'm back now. Not sure how long chapter 3 will take. But hopefully not too long. Also for future reference ^^ are telepathy signs from now on.**

* * *

As they approached the waterway gasping for air after the long run, they heard sirens and a car rushed past them.

"I would've thought with the time we spent running the police would be all over this by now" Chaos observed.

"Maybe they're just incompetent" Mat added.

"Well either way, let's get in before they spot us!" Famfrit said before running off.

When they reached the entrance they were stopped by a police officer wanting to know if they'd seen anything.

"Sorry officer, we only just got here" Mia confirmed the officer's obvious thoughts that they were just harmless people who had just arrived. Then he spotted Belias.

"Now what would a bodyguard like you be doing with kids like these?" he enquired, notebook at the ready. Belias showed him a seemingly blank piece of paper but the officer was obviously taken aback.

"Well if that's the case, then you'd better go in!" Mat said he'd stay outside with Belias to watch the police and warn everyone if they made any sudden moves.

* * *

Inside the ruins, purple water gushed deafeningly through cracks in the rubble which littered the once pristine waterside walkways. Bones of old Icthons were scattered around like something had exploded and wraiths patrolled the areas looking for fresh life to feed on. Unluckily, young Espers had 1000s of years for them to happily gorge away on. A wraith spots them.

"LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFEEEEE!" It screams in its ethereal voice, before rushing towards them hands outstretched. Fortunately their victims had to be dead for the wraiths to feed. In a circle of runes and spells a countdown appeared over their heads.

"Doom," Hash notices. The countdown moved to 9. The wraith appeared to have a slight change in appearance before launching a volley of physical attacks. A loud boom and a blinding white flash suddenly put all of the wraiths out of existence.

"Yeeeeah! Fried 'em" an excited Adam shouts from behind. Before, they attract any more enemies, the Espers quickly moved on.

Coming to a halt in the main area of the ruins, they find an old piece of paper with something scrawled on.

"Looks like it says 'poison is not just physical'. What does that mean?" said Mia analysing it as best she could.

"Well whatever it means," mused Chaos "we should keep it, just in case it comes in handy." Muffled voices. Muffled footsteps. ^Mat what's going on?^ Hash asked ^Seems like they've sent in some troops to investigate^ came the reply, then Belias's gruff voice was heard ^They think that something might have happened to you, so whatever you do don't let them see you or they'll take you straight back out again!^ ^Right^ They all said in unison.

"I say we split up so it's easier to hide behind the pillars. If they find one of us, send some kind of signal so we know." Chaos said. The group acknowledged this and set off their separate ways.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mat was keeping watch outside, when a policeman saw him looking at them a bit too suspiciously for his liking and walked over.

"What're you looking at?" he asked. Chaos would've wanted Mat to just apologise and carry on but more secretly, however that wasn't Mat's style.

"The police. What do you think?" Mat retorted before being grabbing by the shirt

"I don't know what you're here for, kid. And I don't know what that big lug of yours," he indicated to Belias "showed Officer Jenkins to get you in, but I bet it ain't legal." He released Mat and let him drop back onto the wall he was leaning against. But Mat wasn't the type to take insults and leave. No, he was going to get this officer back. He rose up to his full height and his eyes turned an icy shade of blue. He summoned his sword Frigusira and stared the officer down.

"This 'kid' is a being from a much higher order than you can comprehend. I am Mateus per Glaciem Bellator, Esper of ice and holder of the virtue, Loyalty. You shall not interfere!" ^Mat^ a quiet voice ^Mat!^ louder now ^MAT!^ Chaos's voice screamed through his head like he had been for a while ^WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?^ Mat put down his sword and let the officer go. ^What?^ he said nonchalantly ^Mat… never mind. I think I've found something, you'd better come quickly^

The huge green door loomed in front of the group, protected by a huge wall of water. Famfrit effortlessly brought that down and the door creaked open. Mat arrived shortly after and the group wandered in to face whoever was behind the door…

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**Well? What did you think? Also both Mat's full title (apart from Mateus) and his sword are Latin. Any ideas what they mean?**


End file.
